Laptop Troubles
by Lady Psychic
Summary: [oneshot] Seto Kaiba has been having a bad day and his laptop starts acting strange. Then a certain someone offers to help. [hinted puppyshipping]


_Hello, everybody. I've written several pieces of fan fiction before, but this is my first foray into the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom. I was inspired to write this because there was a time in which my laptop was acting strangely (in fact, what happened to Kaiba's laptop in this story is similar to what happened to mine). Anyways, I hope you will enjoy this._

_Pairing: hinted Seto/Joey_

_Warnings: hinted shonen-ai, mild language, usage of dub names, one-shot_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. Kazuki Takahashi and several other people and companies own them._

**Laptop Troubles**

"Darn it!" shouted Seto Kaiba, as he gazed upon the black laptop screen. Though he managed to keep a somewhat calm composure on the outside, he was boiling with anger inside. He was having a very bad day to say the least.

First, Kaiba was late to school due to a call he got from Kaiba Corp. He would have been okay with the quick trip if it had been an emergency, but he was pissed when it turned out to be a false alarm. It wasn't the fact that he was late to school that made Kaiba angry; instead, it was because he needlessly wasted time.

Then, when Kaiba went to his math class, he found out that he made a B+ on the recent test. Most people would have thought that was a good grade, but for a perfectionist like Kaiba it was unacceptable. He would have to make sure no one found out about this slight grade slippage.

To make his mood even worse, he ran into Yugi and the rest of the geek squad a few minutes later. Kaiba tried to ignore them and get away before they started preaching about friendship, but Yugi still persisted. When Kaiba not so politely turned own Yugi's invitation to sit with them, it led to yet another conflict with the mutt. Although Kaiba still liked to insult Joey Wheeler by calling him names like mutt, looser, and second rate duelist, it just wasn't as satisfying as it used to be. Exactly what had changed, Kaiba didn't know. It was still amusing to watch the blonde's reaction, but recently a certain pain occurred in the back of Kaiba's mind in which some would consider guilt.

Of course, the young CEO immediately dismissed it the moment that thought occurred.

After the geek squad settled the little dispute, Kaiba went to sit at the farthest table he could find. He sat alone and quickly ate the small lunch that his personal chef made for him. If anybody attempted to sit near him, he would scare them away with his ice cold glare. After Kaiba finished his lunch, he took out his laptop out of his briefcase in order to do some work before lunch break was over.

Doing so, of course, had unknowingly led to his current problem.

When Kaiba first turned on his laptop, everything seemed fine. Okay, maybe the screen did flicker a little, but he didn't think anything of it. There didn't seem to be a problem. The laptop worked perfectly normal for the first five or so minutes that it was on. Then, without warning, then screen went black.

Kaiba was shocked, but only for a brief second before he regained his thoughts. Then, he decided to try to figure out what the problem was and try to fix it himself. The first thing he did was to turn off and restart the laptop. Doing that usually fixed any problems. When he turned the laptop back on, it seemed to be loading like normal, but then the screen turned black again. Kaiba had fight to keep himself from letting out a string of curses, and he couldn't help but give the laptop a death glare as if he could scare it into working again. Unfortunately, it didn't work. There were several more attempts to restart the laptop, but none of them were successful. Even the loading screen was dimly lit, and it went pitch black after it loaded.

Frustrated, Kaiba listed all the things in his head that might have caused his laptop to act the way it did. He didn't think it was a virus. After all, he had a very good virus protection program, had updated the virus definitions the day before, and was very careful when opening e-mails or downloading files. Also, the hard drive seemed to be working fine. Though the screen was black, he could still turn it on. The only thing that was apparently wrong with the laptop was the monitor. Kaiba tried pressing the button that affected the brightness of the screen, but all that did was to make it flicker tauntingly before it went black again. This made him think that the monitor had burnt out. However, his laptop was less than two years old and was fairly expensive and custom made. The thought that the monitor burnt out so soon irked him.

Of course, some would say that Kaiba had no real reason to be upset. He was a multi-billionaire, and a laptop, no matter how expensive, could easily be replaced. Kaiba had also made sure to burn all of his important documents and files onto CDs just in case something happened. Still, he was pissed that he had to get a new laptop when the one he had should have lasted at least a few more years. He also didn't like the fact that the time he usually spent working before his next class started was wasted. The fact that he was already in a bad mood didn't help either.

Just when he thought that things couldn't get worse, Kaiba heard a voice call out from behind him. "Hey moneybags, what's the problem?" asked the familiar voice. Kaiba turned around to see Joey Wheeler standing behind him.

"Wheeler, what are you doing here?" snarled Kaiba. He was in no mood to play games with the mutt.

Joey shrugged and replied, "Yugi noticed that you looked more pissed than usual. He was going to see what your problem was, but I knew you'd hurt his feelings. So, I told him I'd help you instead."

"Look, I don't need your help or anybody else's", said Kaiba.

"Oh, yeah? Then why were you given that laptop of yours a death glare?" asked Joey. When Kaiba didn't respond, Joey continued, "Look, I know you don't like me. Hell, I don't like you either. But I promised Yugi that I'd help you whether you liked it or not; so, I'm not gonna take any crap from you!"

After a moment of tense silence, Kaiba replied, "For your information, my laptop has been acting strangely, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Why should I believe that a looser like you can?"

"Well", began Joey, "I've kind of seen this before. You see, Yugi's grandpa gave him a laptop last Christmas. Sure, it wasn't as fancy as yours, but it's still a laptop. Anyways, Yugi's laptop started acting weird when I was visiting one day. When Yugi turned it on, it was working fine at first, but then the screen turned black. Yugi tried to figure out what happened, but grandpa needed his help with something. So, I decided to try to fix it for him. It wasn't easy though. I don't know too much about computers, so I was basically pushing buttons. I tried turning it on and off, but it didn't seem to work. Then, I tried pressing the button that Yugi said that controls the brightness of the screen, but that didn't work either. Or, at least it didn't work at first. I guess I must have pressed it just right or something because after several hours of trying, I finally got the freaking thing to work. I still don't know exactly how I did it, though."

After a few moments of absorbing Joey's tale, Kaiba said, "So basically, you fixed Yugi's laptop by pure luck? Why am I not surprised?"

"Look, rich boy," snapped Joey, "just because I rely on a little luck every now and then doesn't make me less than you! Luck just happens to be my talent, like making money and being a prick are your talents."

Before Kaiba could do anything, Joey snatched up the laptop. At first, the young CEO was shocked by the other boy's actions, but anger quickly took hold. "Get your paws off of my laptop, mutt!" shouted Kaiba. Yet, despite the fact that a certain pair of cold blue eyes was giving him a death glare, Joey continued to hold on to the laptop.

"I told you that I'm gonna help you whether ya like it or not! I'm not useless like you think I am. I bet I can have your laptop fixed by tomorrow!" replied Joey.

"Oh, really?" said Kaiba, "I doubt you could do it. There is no way you could be lucky again. But since you are so eager to prove yourself, I will take you up on that bet of yours. If you don't have my laptop fully working by lunch tomorrow, then you and the rest of the geek squad will leave me alone and never bother me again!"

"Fine, but if I fix it, then I get to ask a favor from you", responded Joey. "Fine" agreed Kaiba, and they went their separate ways.

After school was over, Kaiba entered his limo and headed towards Kaiba Corp. Along the way, he thought about the events of the day and wondered why he agreed to let the mutt borrow his laptop in an attempt to fix it. He seriously doubted the idiot could help at all. In fact, Kaiba wouldn't have been surprised if Joey did even more damage to his laptop. Still, it would be amusing to see the mutt try. There was even a part deep inside Kaiba's mind that secretly wanted Joey to win the bet. Of course, Kaiba wouldn't admit that to anybody, including himself.

In the end, it didn't really matter whether Joey fixed the laptop or not. If the laptop was fixed, then everything would be fine. If not, then Kaiba would simply buy a new one. The only real difference was that if Joey, by some miracle, actually did fix it, Kaiba would owe him a favor. Kaiba didn't like owing people favors, and he had no idea what Joey would ask for. Still, Kaiba decided not to dwell on it since he didn't think the mutt would win the bet.

Meanwhile, Joey was at home trying to get the laptop to work. Since he couldn't remember exactly how he got Yugi's to work, he decided to simply use the same basic plan for Kaiba's: randomly press buttons. For the next several hours, Joey kept on pushing buttons and turning the laptop on and off several times. Although there were times where he nearly gave up, Joey's stubbornness won over and he kept on trying. No matter what, he would prove his worth to himself and to Kaiba.

Finally, after about fifty tries, the screen suddenly flickered on and stayed on.

Joey blinked several times before he realized that screen was no longer black. Then, he grinned and raised his arms in victory. To make sure that the laptop really was fixed, Joey turned it off and on one more time. When it seemed to be working properly, Joey smiled and thought, 'Yeah, I did it! I can't wait to see the look on Kaiba's face. Maybe he'll finally show me some respect. Then again, he may still act like a bastard like he always does.'

The next day, Kaiba and Joey met at a secluded table in the cafeteria. Joey gave a smug smirk as he turned on Kaiba's laptop and it worked like normal. The CEO's eyes widened slightly as he realized the other boy not only fixed his laptop, but had won their bet as well. If Seto Kaiba had believed in miracles, he would have said that one had occurred. Since he refused to believe in such things, he figured that the mutt somehow managed to get lucky.

"So, what do you think about that, moneybags?" asked Joey in a smug voice.

Kaiba smirked and answered, "I'll admit that even a looser dog can learn some new tricks."

"Hey," snapped Joey, "give me some credit here! I still fixed your laptop. Besides, you now owe me a favor."

Kaiba barely managed to suppress a groan when he realized that Joey had not forgotten that part of the bet. "Fine, what do want for your favor?" asked Kaiba.

After a few minutes of thinking, Joey replied, "Well, I would like to try out that new fancy restaurant in town. I heard that food was really good, but it's also a bit pricy. So, I want you to take me to eat there and pay for the bill."

"Fine," said Kaiba, "I'll take you out to eat." He wasn't really surprised that Joey chose this as a favor. After all, it was well known that Joey loved to eat. Of course, that meant that there was a good chance that the bill would be really high. Kaiba had plenty of money, but he still wasn't looking forward to paying an insane amount for a meal.

"Alright, I guess you can pick me up at my place around seven for our date," said Joey as he grinned and walked away.

'Date?' thought Kaiba when he absorbed Joey's final words. He figured he must have heard wrong. Either that or Joey simply exaggerated. After all, this dinner had no meaning. Joey was simply using the favor he won from the bet to get free food, right?

'Then again,' thought Kaiba as he looked down at his laptop, 'the mutt can be full of surprises at times.'


End file.
